UVA Educators Expo Presents Opportunities
On Friday Feb. 10, recruiters and representatives from over 60 school districts and PK-12 organizations filled the UVA Alumni Hall to start the 2023 UVA Educators’ Expo. The in-person job fair and networking ran from 10 a.m. to noon and candidate interviews ran from noon to 5 p.m. UVA’s Director of Education Career Services Hilary Kerner organized the event. The Educators’ Expo was open to the public and designed for candidates and students who are interested in pursuing a career in PK-12 teaching, counseling, speech, or administrative roles.
The majority of the school districts and educational job opportunities were based in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nearby out-of-state school districts from Washington, D.C. and Maryland came to hire students majoring in education. For example, Montgomery County Public Schools is an out-of-state school district from Maryland that came to the Educators’ Expo. They are two hours away from Charlottesville and thirty minutes away from Washington. Another example is KIPP DC, a college-preparatory public school in Washington.
Carson Eschman, representing the Southern Teachers Agency, explained to students that their service can place job candidates who are interested in working at private schools located between Pennsylvania and Florida and some in Texas. Carson mentioned that in this region, their service covers teaching positions at Woodberry Forest and Fork Union Military Academy. According to their website, “Southern Teacher is the premier placement service for private school teacher jobs in the South.” The applicant does not pay any money to the Southern Teachers Agency to get paired with a counselor to find private schools that match the applicant’s interests.
Erica Norfleet and Amanda R. Schilling, representing Norfolk Public Schools, drove close to three hours to share opportunities for job candidates to work at their school district. The school district is located inside the city of Norfolk, home of Old Dominion University and a few miles from Virginia Beach.”
Tomas Rivera-Figueroa and Madeline Hanington, representing Montgomery County Public Schools, shared opportunities for candidates interested in working in Maryland. The school district is made up of 210 public schools. According to the district’s website, the Fall 2023 statistics show that 160,554 students are enrolled in all their schools combined. With high enrollment rates, the school district is looking to hire more teachers to cover more classes.
Caitlin Carroll, representing Camp Holiday Trails, shared summer camp opportunities for working with young children. According to their website, “Camp Holiday Trails has nearly 50 years of experience working with children and teens with medical needs ages 5-17, from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.” They also offer opportunities for students age 15+ to get volunteer service. More information about volunteering opportunities can be found on their website. For those who are interested in careers in education or in pursuing a job or internship in this field, PVCC is offering an Education Career Chat on Thursday, April 13 at noon which will feature Charlottesville City Schools human resources coordinator, Jeff Earney. Email careers@pvcc.edu for more information.
